{"id":11110,"date":"2020-12-15T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/?p=10691"},"modified":"2022-05-03T08:07:30","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T08:07:30","slug":"how-to-use-commas-with-adjectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-use-commas-with-adjectives\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use Commas with Adjectives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
It\u2019s been a while since I wrote about commas\u2014those confusing<\/a> little punctuation marks that seemingly everyone has an opinion about. Because there are many ways commas can be used (and overused), I touch on the topic from time to time. This month\u2019s topic is when\u2014and when not\u2014to use commas between adjectives.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Adjectives modify or describe another word, typically a noun. Large, delicious, helpful, red\u2026all of these words describe something else: a large dog, a delicious cheesecake, a helpful Qbank, a red wagon. I could do this all day! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about when more than one adjective is used to describe a noun? Do commas belong between them? Depends on how they relate to the noun.<\/p>\n\n\n

The confident<\/span><\/span> prepared<\/span> PA student is ready to take his rotation exam<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

The adjectives here are confident and prepared\u2014both of these words independently describe our rockstar PA student (he is confident and he is also prepared). These types of adjectives are called coordinate adjectives, and they are typically separated by a comma. <\/p>\n\n\n

The confident<\/span>,<\/span> prepared<\/span> PA student is ready to take his rotation exam<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

So how do you know whether your adjectives are coordinate or not? There are two easy tests:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Add the word \u201cand\u201d between the adjectives. Does the sentence still make sense?<\/li>
  2. Change the order of the adjectives. Does the sentence still make sense?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In our example, we can say the confident and prepared PA student <\/em>as well as the prepared, confident PA student <\/em>and our sentence still makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What about adjectives that aren\u2019t coordinate? This means one or more of the adjectives is essential to the noun\u2019s meaning (it belongs with the noun as one unit). These adjectives don\u2019t pass our two tests. What does this look like?<\/p>\n\n\n

    He was the restrained rear-seat<\/span> passenger and has had a gradual onset of abdominal pain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

    The words describing our passenger are restrained<\/em> and rear-seat<\/em>. In this case, rear-seat<\/em> is essential to understanding something about our passenger: it describes his location in the car. Rear-seat passenger<\/em> is one entire unit that is being described by restrained<\/em>, so these two adjectives aren\u2019t coordinate. But let\u2019s verify this with our trusty tests:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. He was the restrained and rear-seat passenger<\/li>
    2. He was the rear-seat, restrained passenger<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Nope and nope. These adjectives don\u2019t pass either test\u2014no comma needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Time to try some on your own! Would you add commas between these adjectives?<\/p>\n\n\n

      The patient has a pink patent healthy-appearing<\/span> stoma<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

      Our adjectives are pink<\/em>, patent<\/em>, and healthy-appearing<\/em>, and they all describe the stoma. But do they independently describe the stoma (that is, are they coordinate)? Let\u2019s try our tests:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. The patient has a pink and patent and healthy-appearing stoma<\/li>
      2. The patient has a healthy-appearing, patent, pink stoma; The patient has a patent, healthy-appearing, pink stoma (I won\u2019t keep adding possible combinations)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Test 2 can be misleading because we naturally like to put adjectives in a particular order, and color is usually one of the first things we describe. However, even though the examples in both tests sound a little weird, they still make sense. These adjectives are coordinate, and we should put commas between them.<\/p>\n\n\n

        The patient has a pink,<\/span> patent,<\/span> healthy-appearing<\/span> stoma<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

        How about this example?<\/p>\n\n\n

        On physical exam<\/strong>, multiple serpiginous<\/span> lines are noted.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

        Test 1: multiple and serpiginous lines
        Test 2: serpiginous, multiple lines<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Nope, these adjectives don\u2019t pass the tests. Why? Because serpiginous<\/em> is essential to understanding the type of lines noted, and multiple<\/em> builds on the description of the serpiginous<\/em> lines<\/em>. The adjectives in this sentence aren\u2019t coordinate, so no comma should go between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        How about this one?<\/p>\n\n\n

        Generalized anxiety disorder is defined as excessive uncontrollable<\/span> worry causing significant impairment on more days than not for at least 6 months<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

        Let\u2019s try our two tests:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. excessive and uncontrollable worry<\/li>
        2. uncontrollable, excessive worry<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Yep, those work\u2014add the comma. The worry is both excessive and uncontrollable, not uncontrollable worry that is excessive.<\/p>\n\n\n

          Generalized anxiety disorder is defined as excessive,<\/span> uncontrollable<\/span> worry causing significant impairment on more days than not for at least 6 months<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

          There you have it! Another lesson to help you get comfortable using commas. And here\u2019s my usual disclaimer: these tips relate to formal, technical writing (hey those are coordinate adjectives)\u2014don\u2019t fret about commas in your day-to-day texts, social media posts, and casual emails. Anyone who picks on you for your grammar has too much time on their hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          It\u2019s been a while since I wrote about commas\u2014those confusing little punctuation marks that seemingly everyone has an opinion about. Because there are many ways commas can be used (and overused), I touch on the topic from time to time. This month\u2019s topic is when\u2014and when not\u2014to use commas between adjectives. Adjectives modify or describe read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":11203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1996,1998],"tags":[2735],"coauthors":[3822],"class_list":["post-11110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogtype","category-lauras-lessons","tag-grammar"],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Use Commas with Adjectives - RoshReview.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How To Use Commas With Adjectives Learn in a minute what you should've learned in third grade.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-use-commas-with-adjectives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Use Commas with Adjectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How To Use Commas With Adjectives Learn in a minute what you should've learned in third grade.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-use-commas-with-adjectives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RoshReview.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-15T14:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-03T08:07:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x630.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Wilkinson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1012x506.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Wilkinson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-use-commas-with-adjectives\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/how-to-use-commas-with-adjectives\/\",\"name\":\"How To Use Commas with Adjectives - 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